Love, Simon

How’s your weekend shaping up? I didn’t do much reading though am looking forward to starting my next book. Am excited to share with you some of the books I have decided to read as part of the holiday season in my upcoming post and I sure hope you guys love them.

Ok. Coming to the movie review. Love, Simon is based on the book Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda. I remember seeing this book around a lot at one point of time and sometimes still do, so when they released the movie I decided to watch it and last night I did just that.

So Simon is just like you and me. He has a great family including a sister he loves but obviously doesn’t let her know, great friends who he has known from kindergarten and basically he is just like anybody else. Except he has a big “ass” secret. Yeah you guessed it, he’s gay.

The movie is a coming of age story about our lead Simon. It’s basically his life story and like he says everyone deserves a great love story and so does he. He has typical days, he goes to school, hangs out with friends, is part of the drama club and has dinner with his family. Everything is almost perfect.

Then suddenly it changes. His secret is caught and he is blackmailed. His relationship with his friends strain and even though he is in love with someone he messages daily, he has no clue of his identity. Before long things fall apart and his secret is revealed. How does Simon make it all better and come to terms with his own identity as well? That’s the rest of the movie.

I found the characters to be one dimensional. The whole movie definitely has that feel good vibe going for it. Great music and visuals and even a musical number but honestly I find the lead actor Nick Robinson to be a cardboard who shows only two emotions – a blank face and cluelessness. Maybe another actor could have taken the movie a notch up, though admittedly he can shoulder the movie on his own.

The supporting cast is equally lack lustre. It’s probably the writing though cause they were far better than the lead and they did what they could given the material.

Also I agree to what the movie says. Why do gays have to “come out”? Why do you have to tell the world your sexual orientation? Why is it any of others business? Why should it matter to others? I find it stupid that gays are expected to let the world know that they are.

The only scene which affected me, since am an emotional person, is the one where Simon’s mom played by the lovely Jennifer Garner tells him to just be you. It was achingly beautiful. As mothers it’s difficult to let your child go through something hard alone but its necessary for them to come out of it stronger. That whole monologue by Jennifer really touched my heart.

The story is definitely relevant for teenagers and for everyone really. The movie has handled the issue sensitively. I was pretty shocked to see a scene where Simon is harshly mocked for been gay. Kids can be brutally cruel though I never understood why but to see it happen in today’s time when gays are more accepted, it’s even more terrible.

Over all, the direction, music and the story were the high points of this movie besides the subject matter, of-course. But the acting is a let down.

Have you seen the movie? Or read the book? What did you think of it?

Bibliogyan verdict – A beautiful coming of age story but lacks conviction.